Electronic apparatus

ABSTRACT

An electronic apparatus includes a chassis; a display panel that is supported by an inner face of a cover member that defines a rear face of the chassis, the display panel having a display surface exposed to a front face of the chassis; and a support member that supports the display panel at the inner face of the cover member. The support member includes: a cover fixed portion having a cover fixed face that is fixed to the inner face of the cover member; and a panel fixed portion having a panel fixed face that is fixed to a back face of the display panel, the panel fixed portion being elastically displaceable toward the inner face of the cover member.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to electronic apparatuses including adisplay panel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An electronic apparatus such as a laptop PC includes a display panelsuch as a liquid crystal display (see JP 6715973 B, for example).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Such a display panel is placed at the inner face of a cover memberdefining the rear face of the chassis via sponges inserted at the fourcorners, for example, and is supported at the chassis with an adhesiveforce of a bezel member surrounding the outer peripheral of the displaysurface. The bezel member adheres to the outer peripheral edge of thedisplay surface and the peripheral wall of the chassis so as to extendbetween them, and presses the display panel.

Recently such a bezel member has been required to be narrow as possiblefor better appearance quality. As a result, it is difficult for thebezel member to keep a sufficient adhesive area, and so it is difficultto stably fix the display panel with the bezel member.

In view of the problems of the conventional techniques, the presentinvention provides an electronic apparatus including a narrow bezelmember and capable of supporting the display panel stably.

An electronic apparatus according to a first aspect of the presentinvention includes: a chassis; a display panel that is supported by aninner face of a cover member that defines a rear face of the chassis,the display panel having a display surface exposed to a front face ofthe chassis; and a support member that supports the display panel at theinner face of the cover member. The support member includes: a coverfixed portion having a cover fixed face that is fixed to the inner faceof the cover member; and a panel fixed portion having a panel fixed facethat is fixed to a back face of the display panel, the panel fixedportion being elastically displaceable toward the inner face of thecover member.

The above-described aspect of the present invention supports the displaypanel stably while having a narrow bezel member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of an electronic apparatus accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the first chassis viewed from thefront face.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line III-IIIin FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view from the arrow IV in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line V-V inFIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a touch pad andits peripheral when the chassis are in the storage mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, the following describes an electronicapparatus according to the present invention in details by way of apreferable embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of an electronic apparatus 10according to one embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the electronicapparatus 10 is a clamshell-type laptop PC including a first chassis 12and a second chassis 14 that are relatively rotatably connected withhinges 16. The first chassis 12 is a display chassis including a displaypanel 18. The second chassis 14 includes input devices such as akeyboard 20 and a touch pad 21, and other devices such as a motherboard.

The electronic apparatus 10 is configured so that the chassis 12 and 14are rotatable between the storage mode (see FIG. 6) and the usage mode(see FIG. 1). In the storage mode, the plane directions of the chassis12 and 14 are substantially parallel to each other and their crossingangle is close to 0 degree, for example. In the usage mode, the crossingangle of the chassis 12 and 14 is from about 90 degrees to 140 degrees,for example. The rotation range between the chassis 12 and 14 may be 140degrees or more. Instead of a laptop PC, the electronic apparatus of thepresent invention may be of various types including a display devicehaving a single chassis, a tablet PC, a mobile phone, a smartphone, anda portable game machine.

In the following description, based on the mode of the electronicapparatus 10 having the chassis 12 and 14 at 90 degrees (the planedirections of the chassis 12 and 14 are mutually orthogonal), thedirection toward the user using the keyboard 20 while viewing thedisplay surface 18 a of the display panel 18 is front, the directionaway from the user is rear, the width direction of the chassis is leftand right, and the vertical direction is top and bottom. Thesedirections are for convenience of explanation, and their actualdirections change depending on the posture of the electronic apparatus10 and the angle between the chassis 12 and 14.

First the following roughly describes the configuration of the secondchassis 14.

The second chassis 14 is a flattened box. The second chassis 14internally stores a motherboard with a CPU and the like mounted thereonand various types of electronic components such as a battery device, amemory, and an antenna device. The keyboard 20 and the touch pad 21 areplaced to be exposed to the top face 14 a of the second chassis 14. Thekeyboard 20 extends to almost the entire width of the top face 14 a tothe left and right, and occupies a rear area that is about 60% of thetop face 14 a. The touch pad 21 has a left-right width that is about 30%of the top face 14 a, and is placed in front of the keyboard 20 and nearthe center of the top face 14 a.

The touch pad 21 enables touch operation and clicking operation, forexample, and is also called a click pad. The plate member defining thetop face 14 a has an opening 14 b to place the touch pad 21. The touchpad 21 is placed in the opening 14 b at a position slightly lower thanthe top face 14 a. A step is defined between the outer peripheral edgeof the touch pad 21 and the inner peripheral edge of the opening 14 b.This step leaves a rim (edge 14 c) of the inner peripheral edge of theopening 14 b at the top face 14 a (see FIG. 6).

Next the following roughly describes the configuration of the firstchassis 12.

The first chassis 12 is a flattened box and is thinner than the secondchassis 14. The display panel 18 is placed in the first chassis 12 sothat the display surface 18 a is exposed to the front face 12 a. Thefirst chassis 12 has a cover member 24 that defines a rear face (backface) 12 b, and a bezel member 26 that defines a peripheral edge of thefront face 12 a. The top, bottom, left, and right side faces 12 c of thefirst chassis 12 are formed with standing walls that rise from the fourperipheral edges of the cover member 24. The cover member 24 may includea plate defining the rear face 12 b only, and the side faces 12 c may beformed with a separate frame. The first chassis 12 has a bottom edgerelatively rotatably connecting to the rear edge of the second chassis14 via the hinges 16.

The display panel 18 is a liquid crystal display or an organic ELdisplay, for example. In one example, the display panel 18 is configuredso that layers including a glass sheet, a liquid crystal layer, and alight guide plate are stacked and the outer peripheral edges of theselayers are fixed with double-sided tape, an adhesive, or the like. Thedisplay panel 18 may be of a touch panel type.

Next the following describes the specific configuration of the firstchassis 12.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the first chassis 12 viewed from thefront face 12 a. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken alongthe line III-III in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 omits the bezel member 26, andillustrates only the outer shape of the display panel 18 with thealternate long and two short dashes line. FIG. 2 therefore illustratesthe inner face 24 a of the cover member 24 (the face on the reverse sideof the rear face 12 b) and various components mounted on the inner face24 a.

First the following describes the configuration of the cover member 24.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cover member 24 of the presentembodiment has a rectangular plate portion 28 that occupies most partincluding the central portion, and a frame portion 30 that is joined tothe outer peripheral edge of the plate portion 28.

In one example, the plate portion 28 includes a prepreg laminated plate,a resin plate, or a plate made of metal such as aluminum or titanium.The prepreg laminated plate is prepared by stacking a plurality oflayers of prepregs, each of which includes reinforcing fibers such ascarbon fiber impregnated with matrix resin (thermosetting resin such asepoxy resin or thermoplastic resin, for example). Depending on thespecifications, intermediate materials such as foam may be sandwichedbetween the prepreg layers. The plate portion 28 of the presentembodiment is a carbon fiber reinforced plastics plate (CFRP plate)containing carbon fibers as the reinforcing fibers.

The frame portion 30 is formed by injection molding a resin material onthe outer peripheral edge of the plate portion 28 and joining them.Examples of the resin material of the frame portion 30 includepolyethylene resin and polypropylene resin. Fiber reinforced resin (forexample, GFRP) including reinforcing fibers such as glass fibers mixedwith these resins may be used. The plate portion 28 formed with thecarbon fiber reinforced plastics plate is light and has high strength,but has a problem in the workability of machining and shaping. Then, thecover member 24 includes the frame portion 30 made of a resin materialaround the plate portion 28, and a vertical wall 30 a defining the sidefaces 12 c and screw holes 30 b for fixing the hinges 16 are formed inthis frame portion 30. The screw holes 30 b are formed in thick portions30 c at the left and right lower corners of the cover member 24. Thethick portions 30 c are thick parts of the frame portion 30 that arethickened on the inner face 24 a relative to the other parts.

As indicated with the broken line in FIG. 2, the inner face 24 a of thecover member 24 of the present embodiment has a recess-like curved shape32 where the inner face 24 a is smoothly recessed. The curved shape 32is a dish-shaped depression of the inner face 24 a so that a part or allof the plate portion 28 bulges toward the rear face 12 b. That is, thecover member 24 has a dome shape in which a part or all of the rear face12 b slightly bulges rearward. FIG. 2 schematically illustrates thecurved shape 32 that is a substantially hexagonal shape, and actuallythe curved shape 32 is an elliptical concave that is gently inclinedover most of the plate portion 28.

The curved shape 32 (dome shape) defines a space having a certain heightbetween the inner face 24 a and the back face 18 b of the display panel18. As illustrated in FIG. 2, this space is an installation space for acontrol board 34 of the display panel 18. The control board 34 controlsthe display on the display panel 18, and is connected to themotherboard, for example, in the second chassis 14 via a flexibleprinted circuit (FPC) board.

Next the following describes the supporting structure of the displaypanel 18 at the first chassis 12. FIG. 4 schematically illustrates thesupporting structure viewed from the arrow IV in FIG. 2, and illustratesa part thereof in cross section.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, three support members 36A, 36B, and 36C aredisposed on the inner face 24 a of the cover member 24. The supportmembers 36A to 36C are pedestals for supporting the display panel 18with the inner face 24 a of the cover member 24. The support members 36Aand 36B extend along the left and right sides (left and right side faces12 c) of the cover members 24 that face each other and extendvertically. The support member 36C extends along the upper side (topside face 12 c) of the cover members 24 that extends horizontally. Thenumber of support members may be changed as appropriate. Each of thesupport members 36A to 36C may include two or more short plates disposedside by side instead of a long single plate.

The present embodiment does not have a support member along the lowerside (bottom side face 12 c) of the cover member 24 that extendshorizontally. This is a space to place the hinges 16 and the flexibleprinted circuit (FPC) board from the control board 34, and so it isdifficult to place such a support member there. In another embodiment,the support member may be placed along the lower side.

Although the support members 36A to 36C may have different overalllengths, widths, end shapes, etc., they have basically the sameconfiguration. The following therefore describes the support member 36Aon the left in FIG. 2 as an example, and describes the featuresdifferent from the support member 36A about the other support members36B and 36C. Like reference numerals indicate common parts, and thedescription will be omitted as appropriate.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, the support member 36A (36B, 36C) has acover fixed portion 38, a panel fixed portion 39, and a step 40. Thesupport member 36A (36B, 36C) is a stepped plate that is bent in asubstantially Z-shape or a crank shape in cross section. In one example,the support member 36A (36B, 36C) is made of a resin such as polymeralloy (PC/ABS resin) of a polycarbonate resin and an ABS resin. Thesupport members 36A to 36C may be made of a material other than resin,such as metal, as long as it can achieve the elastic displacement of thepanel fixed portion 39 described later.

The cover fixed portion 38 is a portion fixed to the cover member 24.The cover fixed portion 38 has a cover fixed face 38 a on the rear(bottom in FIG. 3) that is fixed to the inner face 24 a of the covermember 24 with double-sided adhesive tape 42.

The panel fixed portion 39 is a portion fixed to the display panel 18.The panel fixed portion 39 has a panel fixed face 39 a on the front (topin FIG. 3) that is fixed to the back face 18 b of the display panel 18with double-sided adhesive tape 43. The cover fixed portion 38 is fixedto the cover member 24 so that the panel fixed portion 39 slightlyfloats from the inner face 24 a. That is, a gap 44 is defined betweenthe back face 39 b of the panel fixed face 39 a and the inner face 24 a.This gap 44 enables the elastic displacement of the panel fixed portion39 in the front-rear direction (direction perpendicular to the drawingplane of FIG. 2).

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the support member 36A (36B, 36C) isconfigured so that the panel fixed face 39 a has a larger surface areathan the cover fixed face 38 a. In the present embodiment, the width ofthe panel fixed face 39 a (the width in the direction orthogonal to thelongitudinal direction) is larger than the width of the cover fixed face38 a. The support members 36A and 36B are each configured so that thepanel fixed face 39 a has a longer overall length than that of the coverfixed face 38 a. This means that the panel fixed face 39 a has a largersurface area. This also means that the double-sided adhesive tape 43 forthe panel fixed face 39 a has a larger adhesive area than that of thedouble-sided adhesive tape 42 for the cover fixed face 38 a.

The step 40 is a part between the cover fixed portion and the panelfixed portion 39, and gives a height difference between these portions.The step 40 is a portion corresponding to a riser of a staircase, forexample. In one example, the step 40 of the present embodiment is formedwith an inclined plate that gradually rises from the cover fixed portion38 toward the panel fixed portion 39. The step 40 may have any shape aslong as the panel fixed portion 39 defines the gap 44 with the innerface 24 a to enable the elastic displacement of the panel fixed portion39.

The step 40 may be omitted. In this case, the support member 36A (36B,36C) may be formed in a laterally U-shape or O-shape in cross section toenable the elastic displacement of the panel fixed portion 39. Thesupport member 36A (36B, 36C) preferably has a stepped shape asillustrated in FIG. 2 to minimize the overall thickness (thickness inthe front-rear direction).

These support members 36A to 36C extend in the vertical direction andthe horizontal direction along the corresponding sides (top, left andright sides 12 c) of the cover member 24 and in the vicinity of thesides. For each of the support members 36A to 36C, the cover fixedportion 38 is located inside of the cover member 24 (toward the center),and the panel fixed portion 39 is located outside of the cover member 24(toward the outer edge). The display panel 18 is a laminated body of aplurality of members as described above, and the outer edges of themembers are fixed to each other. With this configuration, the load onthe outer edge portion of the display panel 18 is unlikely to cause aproblem, but the load on the central portion causes damage of thedisplay panel 18. To avoid this damage, the panel fixed face 39 a needsto be fixed to the outer edge of the display panel 18 as much aspossible. To this end, the support members 36A to 36C of the presentembodiment are configured so that the panel fixed portion 39 is locatedoutside of the cover member 24 to support the outer edge of the displaypanel 18.

Next, the following describes a configuration unique to each of thesupport members 36A to 36C.

In order to support the flat back face 18 b of the display panel 18, thepanel fixed faces 39 a of the support members 36A to 36C need to beplaced entirely on a single plane (support plane). In contrast, theinner face 24 a of the cover member 24 has the curved shape 32. Inparticular, the cover fixed faces 38 a of the left and right supportmembers 36A and 36B overlap the curved shape 32. The left and rightsupport members 36A and 36B therefore each include the cover fixed face38 a with a curved surface matching the curved shape 32 (see FIGS. 3 and4), and this allows the panel fixed face 39 a to be placed on thesupport plane even on the curved shape 32. When the support member 36Calso overlaps the curved shape 32, its cover fixed face 38 a may have acurved surface.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the support member 36A on the leftincludes the panel fixed portion 39 that is longer than the cover fixedportion 38. The panel fixed portion 39 of the support member 36A hasprotruding portions 39 c and 39 d whose both ends protrude from bothends of the cover fixed portion 38. The protruding portion 39 c close tothe bottom of FIG. 2 has a small positioning hole 39 e. The protrudingportion 39 c is placed on the thick portion 30 c and fits with thepositioning pin 30 d on the thick portion 30 c (see also FIG. 4). Thisconfiguration positions the support member 36A relative to the covermember 24. The support member 36A (36B, 36C) is positioned also usingthe scratched line drawn on the inner face 24 a of the cover member 24.The protruding portion 39 d close to the top in FIG. 2 enablespositioning of the support member 36C by abutting it with the left endof the support member 36C.

The panel fixed portion 39 of the support member 36A has a slit-likecutout 39 f in the vicinity of the protruding portion 39 c. The cutout39 f is formed by cutting from the panel fixed portion 39 to the step 40in the width direction (left-right direction). As illustrated in FIG. 4,the cutout 39 f separates the protruding portion 39 c, which ispositioned on the thick portion 30 c, from the other portion. Thisprevents the thick portion 30 c from interfering with the elasticdisplacement of the panel fixed portion 39.

The support member 36B on the right also has a protruding portion 39 c,a positioning hole 39 e, and a cutout 39 f. The support member 36B has asubstantially horizontally symmetrical shape with the support member36A, and is significantly different only in the shape of the upper endportion. The upper end of the support member 36B is cut diagonally tohave a gap 45 with the right end of the adjacent support member 36C. Thegap 45 is a path to install the FPC that is connected to a camera or amicrophone placed along the upper side of the first chassis 12 andextends from the lower side to the second chassis 14. The support member36B may have a completely horizontally symmetrical shape with thesupport member 36A.

As described above, the electronic apparatus 10 of the presentembodiment includes the support members 36A to 36C that support thedisplay panel 18 at the inner face 24 a of the cover member 24 of thefirst chassis 12. The support members 36A to 36C each include the coverfixed portion 38 having the cover fixed face 38 a fixed to the innerface 24 a, and the panel fixed portion 39 having the panel fixed face 39a fixed to the back face 18 b of the display panel 18. The panel fixedportion 39 is elastically displaceable toward the inner face 24 a of thecover member 24.

The electronic apparatus 10 therefore supports the display panel 18 withthe cover member 24 via the support members 36A to 36C and not via thebezel member 26. The electronic apparatus 10 therefore stably supportsthe display panel 18 while including the bezel member 26 that is narrowas possible, and also includes the first chassis 12 that is compact andhas improved appearance quality. When the display panel 18 receives apressing force during the stacking process or during a user's operationwith the touch panel, the elastic displacement of the panel fixedportion 39 absorbs this pressing force. With this configuration, theelectronic apparatus 10 suppresses damage to the display panel 18, suchas display abnormalities called black spots and white spots, and brokenglass.

The support members 36A to 36C are each configured so that the panelfixed face 39 a has a larger surface area than that of the cover fixedface 38 a. The display panel 18 has to be removed from the cover member24 during maintenance such as replacement of the display panel 18. Inthis case, it is preferable to remove the display panel 18 from thepanel fixed face 39 a and leave the support members 36A to 36C fixed tothe cover member 24. This is because the cover fixed face 38 a has acurved surface that matches the curved shape 32, and once removed, thefollowing positioning operation will be complicated. The support members36A to 36C of the present embodiment therefore are configured so thatthe cover fixed face 38 a is strongly fixed to the inner face 24 a andthe display panel 18 is removable from the panel fixed portion 39.

For the double-sided adhesive tape 42 that does not need to be removed,a tape with a strong adhesive force can be used. The cover fixed face 38a therefore can exert a sufficient adhesive force even with a smallsurface area. The cover fixed face 38 a therefore may have a minimumsize, and the installation space of the cover fixed face 38 a in thefirst chassis 12 can be kept small. In contrast, for the double-sidedadhesive tape 43 that needs to be removed, a tape having a smalleradhesive force than the double-sided adhesive tape 42 has to be used.The panel fixed face 39 a therefore has a large surface area to make upfor the insufficient adhesive force of the double-sided adhesive tape43, and prevents the display panel 18 from rattling. For thedouble-sided adhesive tape 43, a tape called stretch release tape,stretch double-sided tape, or stretchable tape may be used, which isreleasable by pulling out with a tab, for example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line V-V inFIG. 2. FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of thetouch pad 21 and its peripheral when the chassis 12 and 14 are in thestorage mode. FIG. 5 omits the members other than the support member 36Cand the double-sided adhesive tapes 42 and 43. The specific structure ofthe cutout 39 f in FIG. 2 is the same as that of the cutout 39 h (39 g)in FIG. 5.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5, the panel fixed portion 39 of thesupport member 36C close to the top has a pair of left and rightslit-like cutouts 39 g and 39 h. As indicated with the alternate longand two short dashes line in FIG. 2, the cutouts 39 g and 39 h arepositioned so as to overlap the edges 14 c along the left and rightedges of the touch pad 21 in the direction of stacking the chassis 12and 14 to be in the storage mode (see also FIG. 6).

Assume the case where, in the storage mode of FIG. 6, the rear face 12 bof the first chassis 12 receives an external pressure, so that thedisplay surface 18 a of the display panel 18 is pressed against the topface 14 a of the second chassis 14. In this case, the left and rightedges 14 c are at the positions overlapping the support member 36C inthe stacking direction of the chassis 12 and 14 (see FIG. 2). As aresult, the display panel 18 may receive an intensive load F from theedge 14 c as illustrated in FIG. 6. In this case, the load F cannot beabsorbed only by the elastic displacement of the panel fixed portion 39,and the display panel 18 may be damaged by the local high pressure dueto the edge 14 c.

To avoid this, the support member 36C of the present embodiment has thecutouts 39 g and 39 h at positions overlapping the edges 14 c, and thisenables smooth absorption of the load F and suppresses damage of thedisplay panel 18. If the support members 36A and 36B may interfere withother edges on the top face 14 a, the support members 36A and 36B mayalso have such cutouts 39 g and 39 h.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments,and can be modified freely without deviating from the scope of thepresent invention.

The above embodiments describe the example where the cover member 24 hasthe curved shape 32. In another embodiment, the cover member 24 may havea flat surface.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electronic apparatus comprising: achassis; a display panel that is supported by an inner face of a covermember that is a rear face of the chassis, the display panel having adisplay surface exposed to a front face of the chassis; and at least onesupport member that supports the display panel at the inner face of thecover member, the at least one support member including: a cover fixedportion having a cover fixed face that is fixed to the inner face of thecover member; and a panel fixed portion having a panel fixed face thatis fixed to a back face of the display panel, the panel fixed portionbeing elastically displaceable toward the inner face of the covermember.
 2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the atleast one support member includes a stepped plate having a step betweenthe cover fixed portion and the panel fixed portion, and the cover fixedportion of the at least one support member fixed to the inner face ofthe cover member is disposed away from the inner face of the covermember to provide a gap between the panel fixed portion and the innerface of the cover member.
 3. The electronic apparatus according to claim2, wherein the at least one support member includes at least a pair ofsupport members, and the cover fixed portion and the panel fixed portionof each support member extend along a pair of opposed sides of the covermember, and each support member is configured so that the cover fixedportion is adjacent to a center of the cover member, and the panel fixedportion is adjacent to an outer edge of the cover member.
 4. Theelectronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least onesupport member is configured with the panel fixed face having a largersurface area than that of the cover fixed face, the cover fixed face isfixed to the inner face of the cover member with a first adhesive tape,and the panel fixed portion is fixed to a back face of the display panelwith a second adhesive tape having an adhesive force less than the firstadhesive tape.
 5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe cover member has a curved-shaped recess where the inner face issmoothly recessed, the cover fixed face includes a curved face thatfollows the curved shape of the recess, and the panel fixed face is aflat surface.
 6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe cover member includes a frame portion joined to an outer peripheraledge of a plate portion of the cover member, the plate portion includesa fiber reinforced resin including reinforcing fibers impregnated with aresin material, and the at least one support member has a positioninghole that receives a positioning pin on the frame portion.
 7. Theelectronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a secondchassis connected, via a hinge, to the chassis, the second chassisincludes an input device on a top face of the second chassis andincludes an edge at a rim of the input device, wherein the chassis andthe second chassis are rotatably connected to one another and moveablebetween at least a storage mode in which the chassis and the secondchassis are stacked to overlap each other so that the display surface ofthe display panel faces the input device and a usage mode in which thechassis stands so that both the display surface of the display panel andthe input device are exposed to outside of the electronic apparatus, andthe panel fixed portion has a cutout at a position overlapping the edgeof the second chassis, in a stacking direction of the chassis and thesecond chassis in the storage mode.